Jury awards $30.3 million to Essex family in asbestos death

The family of an Essex County man who died from an asbestos-related cancer was awarded $30.3 million from a jury in Bergen County, their lawyer said today. The award is believed to be the largest in New Jersey for mesothelioma, an aggressive lung cancer, said the lawyer, Moshe Maimon. The disease killed 50-year-old Mark Buttitta, of Glen Ridge, in 2002, although he had only handled auto parts containing asbestos while working summers at giant GM warehouses in New Jersey, Maimon said.However, Buttitta's father worked there, and his brother also spent summers at the warehouse, the lawyer said. The three men wore the same work clothes for several days "bringing home cancer-causing fibers every day from work, unknowingly letting the microscopic fibers fragments waft throughout their home and settle," said Maimon, who specializes in asbestos cases. The six-person jury in Bergen County jury on Tuesday found against Asbestos Corp. Ltd. of Canada, which provided material for GM brakes, and BorgWarner Inc. of Michigan, which made clutches. The verdict came after four hours of deliberations following several weeks of testimony, Maimon said. Both companies are expected to appeal. Buttitta, an advertising executive, grew up in Bloomfield, where the warehouse was located before it moved to Englewood. If upheld, the verdict would benefit his widow and three daughters. No illness has been reported by his father, Frank Buttitta Sr., a lifelong GM worker, or brother, Frank Buttitta Jr., said Maimon, of Levy Phillips & Konigsberg.